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Introduction to Algorithms

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: TH Cormen

August 10, 2001
There's a limited amount you can do in a thousand pages and I reckon the authors have done what they can.

This is *not* for casual reading, it's hard work on a par with Knuth's tomes. It's not as all-inclusive as the latter, but it goes deeper into certain aspects.

The mathematical bits at the start are okay, and there is an excellent exposition on the big-oh notation (and its relatives) - such is difficult to find, for some reason. That alone makes it worth getting.

However, as a work of art it seemed somewhat amorphous to me (yes, even books on mathematics and computer science, even technical manuals, are works of art and can be judged as such), and when I got to the end, I found myself not caring too ... Read More:

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Canon Speedlite System Digital Field Guide

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: J. Dennis Thomas

April 10, 2007
The best thing about this book is that the author gives full data showing f/stop and shutter speed for each image. However, for quite a few of the author's images this technical data will serve better as an example of how to produce snap shots.
I was disappointed to find chapters on portrait posing and composition. There are specialised books that cover these subjects, and frankly they cover them much better.
I'd only recommend this book if you are a beginner who is looking to use off-camera flash for the first time. Certainly not a book for advanced or pro photographers.

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Excel 2003 Bible

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: John Walkenbach

October 10, 2003
OK...received the book this morning so I haven't really read through it yet. It has a lot of pages!! ermm its very thick...looks impressive. What else? ermmmm its a reference book for more advanced use of Excel, so really its a 'no brainer'...any book would do.

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User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: Mike Cohn

March 18, 2004
We're just launching a new project, and we'll be using Agile for the first time. I've found this book very useful for telling me exactly what I need to do when. The book is well structured and very readable. As a bonus, it doesn't just deal with how User Stories are Applied, but also has a good writeup about why they work, which I think you'll find useful if you want to convince your boss to try out Agile practices.

The case study at the end ties everything together nicely, my only critisim being that it ends rather abruptly. For a more extensive case study, covering several iterations, and not just the planning stage, see Mike Cohn's other book, Agile Estimating and Planning (Robert C. Martin).

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How Computers Work

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: Ron White, Timothy Edward Downs

November 29, 2007
I bought this book for my wife who had no clue whatsoever about computers. Although she didn't read it cover to cover (she had no desire to understand some of the printing technology) she did want to understand the basics and simple terminology. The book is full of great colourful picture, easy to understand explanation and could be understoof and read by most 10 year olds upwards. Finally she knows the difference between memory and storage. (Which is more than I can say for some PC shop sales staff) She's now feels far more confident about computers and indeed a few months later when she ordered her new laptop I could hear her discussing confidently with online sales about her specification in terms of screen resolution, Hard drive capacity, ... Read More:

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Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design Using UML

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: Simon Bennett, Steve McRobb, Ray Farmer

July 04, 2006
I read this book during my first year at Uni and found it to be informative and useful. Although it can be dull in some parts it is a decent introduction to OO systems analysis. However do read other books on this subject to accompany this book.

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Windows XP For Dummies. 2nd Edition

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: Andy Rathbone

October 08, 2004
Not much to say really.. this is a great book for somebody who has no experience of using a computer or wants a refresher of the basics. A great place to start off but probably a little too basic if you have some computing experience.

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The Burning Crusade Atlas (Brady Games - World of Warcraft)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: BradyGAMES

September 18, 2008
why buy this , there is already an online atlas antd you can just find the information online instantly instead of flicking threw pages

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Introducing Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2, Second Edition (PRO-Developer)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: Laurence Moroney

June 23, 2008
why buy this , there is already an online atlas antd you can just find the information online instantly instead of flicking threw pages

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Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Computers and Internet
by: Stephen Few

June 11, 2008
I'm about half-way through as I write this review but I am already very impressed with this book. Few has an easy-to-read style that's not full of fluff or pompous nonsense, and he provides sensible advise for producing effective designs.

The book begins by defining the term "information dashboard": the definition is suitably broad that you may realise that solutions you've build before would fit in and would therefore have benefited from the design advice given in the book. To make his points about poor design, Few then uses a selection of examples found on the web. Many of these are eye catching and graphically pleasing - but the commentary makes you appreciate the problems each exhibits. In the middle of the book, Few describes accepted scientific ... Read More: